Summer Wine gets the go-ahead at Holmbridge vineyard

Sep 24 2009 by Anne-Marie Senior, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THERE’LL be summer wine in Holmbridge now council planners have given the go-ahead for the town’s first winery.

At last Becky and Ian Sheveling can make plans for the 7,000 vines they planted by hand after Kirklees Council granted permission for a large agricultural building.

The couple set up Holmfirth Vineyard after buying the derelict Woodhouse Farm in 2007.

And this weekend, they are giving people the chance to see the fruits of their labour on an organised tour.

The pair ditched their high-flying careers to create their Yorkshire vineyard dream in 2008.

Now, with a baby on the way, they are looking forward to creating 30,000 bottles of Holmbridge-grown English wine when their first official harvest takes place next September.

Dad-to-be Ian said: “It is going to be a very exciting year next year.

“The new building will house the stainless steel tanks and there’ll be a grape press, grape de-stemmer and space for bottling and labelling the wine.

“We were hoping to have it done for October but it might be a little bit delayed.

“But the winery equipment is on order and we can always fit it in one of the other buildings for now.”

The couple have bought in supplies of the same grapes they are growing in Holmbridge to enable them to start producing wine before the big 2010 harvest.